Article Summary:

An article in the journal Animal Cognition, suggests that juvenile lemon sharks (Negaprion brevirostris) can learn from observing the actions of other sharks. A test was devised by the researchers in which the sharks had to perform a task in order to receive a reward of food. Once habituated to the task, new sharks were introduced and paired with “demonstrators”. At the same time, other sharks were paired with sharks that had not “learnt” the task/reward process. The sharks that had been paired with the “demonstrators” were capable of faster overall task performance.

Although this is well documented in bony fishes, this is the first time that this has been studied in cartilaginous ones.